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Faculty of Arts and HumanitiesGeneral Linguistics (Department of Linguistics)

Career Prospects

External job opportunities

Professions for Linguists

At the beginning of a study programme, in addition to the question of interest for the study, the question of professional opportunities with the respective degree naturally arises. The study programmes in Cologne are research-oriented - the non-university professional fields listed below are conceivable, even if the study programme in Cologne does not prepare for them without further ado (e.g. additional training/qualifications). In their book "Linguistische Berufe" (Linguistic Professions), Becker-Mrotzek and colleagues list a few occupational fields for which they provide more detailed information:

  1. Further education / personnel work: training and education of oral and written communication, communication consulting, coaching, moderation
  2. Intercultural communication: intercultural training and mediation: I. intercultural communication trainers, e.g. mediators of international teams, II. mediators, involvement in conflicts caused by cultural differences, III. consultants and cultural mediators, development of foreign markets or measures for the integration of foreigners
  3. Press / Media / Public Relations: Media convergence: dealing with text, image, sound, film, graphics, hypertext, practical experience in writing, text design, editing and moderation
  4. Technical documentation: technical editor, translator or proofreader, presentation of any information on technical products
  5. Computer / software / new media: software development, planning, development and realization of hypertext and hypermedia as well as their mediation, development of teaching and learning systems
  6. Clinical linguistics: diagnostics and therapy of neurogenic speech and language disorders, quality management, education and training, research and method development
  7. Interpreting / translation (new significance due to explosive demand development in the specialist field)
  8. Language teaching (mother and foreign languages): education, literacy courses.

Reference: Becker-Mrotzek et al. (eds.). 2000. Linguistische Berufe. Ein Ratgeber zu aktuellen linguistischen Berufsfeldern. Frankfurt/M. u.a.: Peter Lang.

Further job descriptions can be found under Unicheck.